Hell and Reincarnation

The Bible leaves no room for reincarnation. Reincarnation is, simply put, salvation by works. I view it as an endless, hopeless, purposeless treadmill where one has “no place to go and all day to get there”, since most people don’t remember anything from a past life.

In contrast to reincarnation, I find great hope and purpose in knowing that I only have to go through this blood-stained life once and then live in eternal bliss. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that none of us can ever be good enough by our own determination, so for it to also teach reincarnation would be to consign us to a living hell of straining for a goal we can never reach. Salvation by works and salvation by faith (Eph. 2:8-9) are hopelessly incompatible. Why would I want to trade a priceless gift for a wage that will never be enough to buy eternal happiness?

The Bible says we will all “die once then face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Principles for helping people improve themselves are all well and good, but it doesn’t change the heart (Col. 2:23). Reincarnation reduces God to a cosmic bean counter whose only job is to keep accurate accounts of our alleged karma. And when he doesn’t perform “up” to our standards we have the gall to stand in judgment of him, as if he were a genie in a lamp who exists to grant our wishes.

Just as darkness is the absence of light, Hell can be considered the "absence" of God. We have a choice to make in this life: to accept God or reject him. To reject him is to want to be away from his presence, and that's exactly what hell is. So when God sends someone to hell he is only giving them what they asked for.

The suffering souls experience there is what logically follows from the absence of God. Since God is the source of everything good-- love, companionship, freedom from pain, etc.-- then hell must be devoid of all that. The "burning" of hell is simply an anaolgy we can understand, since burning is one of the more painful experiences our physical bodies can know.